The Deadly Duo
by Isadogger
Summary: Damon and Enzo both escape Augustine together, and now they find themselves free to live a new life filled with mischief and adventures in this super-bromance (Not slash) alteration of history. It will likely have lots of violence and some suggestive romance but I'm not likely to push past the T rating. Disclaimer: I don't own the show or characters in this story.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

1958 - New Years Eve Party at the Whitmore's

* * *

"Now you see it..." He broke the cuffs with a grin.

Damon shoved his thumbs into Doc Whitmore's eyes, his dulled emotions bursting with newfound glee as he felt his captor's eyes popping with the pressure. He bared his fangs and ripped open the human's neck, not even considering the possibility of it being poisoned with vervain. The blood was clean and it hit the spot after being nearly starved for five years. Damon needed more, barely noticing the toppling candles and flames springing up from the carpet. For the first time in years, he vamp sped at the next closest man, shoving him down and tearing the throat out of the screaming woman beside him. His strength returning, he joyfully twisted around another guys head, snapping the victim's spine, and watching people flee while blood dripped off his chin. He grabbed another man from behind and drained him before breaking his neck as well and speeding onward to another terrified party guest. Damon was completely consumed with bloodlust at this point, barely aware of Enzo calling him out of his glorious rampage.

"Damon! We've got to get out of here!" Enzo yelled desperately, "Damon NOW!"

Damon turned and sped over to the cage that Enzo was still locked in, unable to think clearly and attempting to break apart the vervain coated bars with his bare hands, groaning as they burned him. Still he attempted to pull the bars apart, shaking his hands off again as they sizzled.

"Damon stop! Get the keys, he dropped the keys!" Enzo shouted, pointing down at Whitmore's body as the flames drew hotter and nearer to the two vampires.

Damon looked around frantically, barely spotting the key ring through the smoke, as they glinted from the light of the fire. He scrambled over to the corpse of the mad scientist, tossing it aside and grasping the keys, nearly fumbling them while trying to unlock the cage. The keys were also coated and burned his fingers, but Damon barely noticed at this point, he was so enhanced by the overdose of blood and adrenaline.

The cage door flung open, and his friend was tumbling out...Damon could hardly focus on his surroundings anymore. The fire...the blood...people screaming and running elsewhere in the house, the overwhelming bloodlust, _this must be how Stefan feels when he's a ripper,_ Damon thought vaguely, barely aware that a panicking Enzo was guiding them out of the house. Damon wanted to go after the rest of the Augustines and rip them all apart, but the air was suddenly cooler and he realized they had made it out of the building.

His mind snapped back to the present. His clothes were singed and sooty, and Enzo fell to his knees next to him, with barely enough strength to crawl a few feet further from the burning deathtrap. Damon's thoughts cleared and he realized that he needed to get them far away and fast, before more Augustines arrived or those who had already escaped returned to try to recapture them. Enzo was in no condition to fight, and they couldn't risk going after any more people here.

Damon heaved the weakened vampire over his shoulder and headed for the cover of darkness. He could smell the sweet air of freedom, and it tasted like blood and smoke.

* * *

Damon had carried Enzo away from the burning house fire until the other vampire found enough energy to stand on his own two feet again. The two of them stayed in the shadows until they spotted an inconspicuous motel, and Damon helped Enzo walk in. They must have looked and smelled terrible, but it was a small lobby and the only other person in the room was the clerk, who stared at the men in shock at their appearance. Damon compelled him to ignore what he saw and give them an unoccupied room. There were no vacancies but not everyone had arrived yet, so Damon made the clerk cancel someone's booking and give it to them instead. It would appear to be a clerical error if anyone showed up to claim their room. He helped Enzo get to the suite and dropped his friend on the bed, before telling him he'd be sending food his way and then he'd be back in the morning.

Damon had no intention of settling down for the night yet. He was too full of energy and excitement and wanted to have some fun, temporarily forgetting he was a complete mess. Damon closed the door to Enzo's room, putting a 'do not disturb' sign on the handle as he was leaving. Before he got to the end of the hall, his ears perked up to listen in on an argument he could hear happening on the floor above between a man and a woman. _Lover's quarrel?_ he thought, as a third guy rushed past him in a panic while buttoning up a wrinkly, untucked shirt. ' _Ah, love triangle'_ He smirked, and sped back in front of the guy, startling the man and grabbing his collar.

Compelling the man to answer with honesty, he asked amused, "Why are you running?"

"I just got caught sleeping with my brother's wife after sneaking away from a 'New Years Eve' party with her."

Damon laughed. "You'll do. Now be quiet and come with me, don't try to run or shout," he guided the adulterer back to the room where Enzo was resting, and shoved him towards his friend.

"Dinner time, Enzo, drink up." The man stumbled and fell forward at the foot of the bed next to Enzo, putting his arm out to stop his fall. His wrist was grabbed and torn open by the weakened vampire as Enzo immediately began feeding. Damon left again and shut the door, heading upstairs to the room with the ongoing argument.

 _"How could you do this to me Barbara, with my own brother? I've given you everything!"_

 _"It was never enough Donald, I love Mack. He's always there for me when you go away on business for days."_

 _"You filthy whore, why did you marry me if you were in love with him too?"_

 _"It was always Mack, Donald. I only love Mack, but I couldn't marry him, he couldn't provide me the life that you do. Please don't leave me, I don't want a divorce Donald!"_

Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head, stepping aside as Donald burst out of the room, slamming the door and leaving angrily. He could empathize with the poor sod, so he let the man pass by safely. Smirking, he walked towards the room, hearing the woman inside sobbing.

 _Knock, knock_

He heard the woman rush to the door and she pulled it open while calling out with hope, "Mack?"

"I'm sorry, but no. I'm Damon. Why are you crying, doll?" He gazed at her with flirty blue eyes, quirking his eyebrows. The woman sniffled, entranced as he wiped away her tears, tilting his head and looking her over. She wasn't particularly attractive, but after five years of involuntary confinement he wasn't feeling picky at the moment.

"I..I..did something terrible..." she stammered, backing up as he walked into the room and shut the door behind him, keeping her gaze.

"I know," Damon started, "but I don't really care about any of that." He closed the distance between them and she finally noticed his dirty, blood covered clothes.

"Wait, who are you? What are you doing here?" The woman became scared and began to panic, so he grasped her face and compelled her not to be afraid of him. She calmed down immediately and he shed his soiled clothes as she watched, confused. He smirked in arrogance as she gawked at him lustfully.

"There, no more bloody clothes. You've had a rough night, and I'm in need of a shower, why don't you join me?" He didn't even compel her; she couldn't take her eyes off of him as he took her hand and led them into her bathroom. The woman had no inhibitions whatsoever without having any fear, and he had no trouble getting all of his primal needs satisfied.

* * *

He was only there about an hour, as she didn't really hold his interest for long. He felt clean and refreshed and left the woman partly drained, sitting on her hotel bed naked and compelled to forget everything that had transpired between the two of them. Whistling, he walked down the hall wrapped only in a towel. The night was still young and he needed new clothes. Thankfully, the motel was filled with troubled couples on holiday, and it wasn't hard to find everything he needed.

After sleeping with a couple more loose women, and collecting a handful of outfits from the men they so easily betrayed, he woke up next to a pretty blonde the next morning. Damon stretched as he stood up, yawning with satisfaction. He opened the curtains and stood in front of the window, thrilled to finally be free to bask in the morning's sunlight. It was the first morning after their escape, and he couldn't be happier. He dressed in a casual outfit and slung the rest of his clothes over his shoulder, heading back to the room where he'd left Enzo.

Unsurprisingly, there was a pile of bodies in the room, as his starved friend had needed a lot of blood last night. In addition to Mack, Enzo had drained all of the unlucky men that Damon had sent down from the upstairs rooms he'd been in. The water was running in the bathroom, so Damon figured Enzo was cleaning up. He plopped down in a chair that was blood free, and waited for his friend to finish. They had a lot of work to do, tying up loose ends and destroying everything and everyone related to Augustine, and Damon was enthusiastic about getting started.


	2. 1 The Day The Music Died

The Day the Music Died:

February 3, 1959

* * *

"We should have gone to that Buddy Holly show, Enzo." Damon said, smacking him in the head with the rolled up newspaper that proclaimed the tragic plane crash earlier that day.

"Damon, you really need to make yourself scarce this evening," Enzo pushed him away, annoyed. "I got a response from Maggie, and she's agreed to meet. You'll be bored anyway, without a horde of sorority tramps to entertain you."

"Seriously? I rescue you from a firey doom, and now you are trying to get us killed by fraternizing with Augustinette? What could possibly go wrong...I thought we were trying to obliterate ALL of those freaks from existence!" Damon grumbled, wacking at Enzo with the newspaper again.

This time Enzo easily dodged his half drunk friend and was pleased to see Damon topple into a garbage can that they were walking past. "Maggie is _NOT_ on our hitlist Damon, and we would have already killed them all off if you weren't so obsessed with your sick little scheme of letting the Whitmore bloodline carry on, just so you can torment them indefinitely."

"That is incorrect, _mate_. Allowing the Whitmore line to keep passing along their inheritance allows us to keep an eye out for Augustine stragglers looking for funds to attempt mini revivals of vamp torture camp. You're delusional if you think that woman who observed you rotting in a cell years ago will be on our side after all the mayhem we've been causing this past year around campus. She's probably rounding up the troops to stake you at your dinner date, and then take me down with you. I'm _NOT_ going back there!" Damon blustered, throwing the paper at Enzo and missing. He scowled, kicking over the next trash can they passed and catching the attention of a young couple that was awkwardly cuddling on a bench further down the walkway.

"She'd be a tastey lunch, Enzo. Whatta ya say? You can have that square she's with, he's completely failing at getting past first base anyway." Damon nodded towards the college kids who were looking increasingly uncomfortable about the approaching men.

"You want to eat them in the middle of campus in broad daylight, and you're criticizing me for wanting to reunite with the sweetest and kindest woman I've ever known? If anyone is going to get us staked, it's you, Damon." Enzo turned and began walking in the opposite direction, away from the nervous couple and his increasingly reckless vampire companion. Damon's post-prison bloodlust hadn't waned since their escape, and Enzo had begun feeling wary about his endless murder sprees. Recently, Enzo had started wanting to move on with his life, possibly finding a nice girl to confide in, such as his long lost Maggie James. Unfortunately, Damon was still very interested in killing anyone and everyone that he could link to Whitmore or the Augustine society, which pretty much meant anyone and everyone on campus that had a pulse at this point.

For a while this had been very satisfying for Enzo too, especially when they had compelled themselves rooms in a sorority house, and pretty much spent their days deflowering pretty pledges and their nights tracking down the enemy to snatch, drain, interrogate, and kill off all of the Augustines and their benefactors. However, it didn't take long for the two vampires to run out of legitimate leads, and therefore targets that were actually deserving of their vengeance.

That did nothing to stop Damon. Now, Enzo spent his days trying to prevent his mate from being dangerously careless, and his nights trying to focus Damon's wrath on people that wouldn't be missed. He pondered trying to get in contact with Damon's brother, but since they'd never met, Enzo wasn't convinced that it would make things better, and it certainly wouldn't be desirable to make things any worse. From what he understood, Stefan Salvatore was a very touchy subject for Damon, who pretended to hate his brother but clearly was very hurt that Stefan had never rescued him. Sometimes Damon would get drunk and tell fond stories of his younger brother, but then he would catch himself and speak of Stefan as being a traitorous girlfriend stealing ripper monster brat...or something along those lines.

Either way, contacting the other Salvatore was probably too much of a wildcard, and Damon's emotions were utterly unpredictable. The one thing Enzo did know was that he would never abandon Damon, although he was very concerned that this may lead to his own ruin if something didn't change very soon. Enzo continued to walk away from his friend, deciding that the sooner he left for Mystic Falls, the better. Damon would actually be temporarily less likely to do anything crazy if Enzo was not there to back him up, at least for a little while.

* * *

Maggie's dreams about the British man in a prison cell had returned. Ever since the mysterious event in 1950 that had caused her to have amnesia, she would waken during restless nights with dreams about the prisoner. The dreams seemed real, as if they were memories, and for a long time they had played out as simple conversations about mundane subjects. For years she kept these strange dreams to herself, having noone trustworthy to share them with anyway.

When she had first found herself walking confused to the next town over from Whitmore College years ago, she realized that she had many memory gaps of that past year, and had a deep sense of despair any time she returned to the campus, as well as a strong desire to leave that place. So, still confused as to what had happened to her to cause such disorientation, yet feeling a strong desire to leave, Maggie had left Whitmore completely and moved away to a nice little town called Mystic Falls. For a while, the strange dreams about the strangely familiar, yet unidentifiable man had subsided, but shortly after taking a job as a nurse at Mystic Falls Hospital, something had triggered the dreams to return.

She had begun to feel a strange bond with the man in her dreams after a while, and for some reason she was able to remember the conversations that they had quite vividly, regardless of how simple they were. Sometimes, when Maggie was feeling especially lonely or outcast, she would conjure up and replay her conversations with him in her mind. Some days, being an educated woman (both of her status as well as being in the workplace during the 1950's) was especially challenging, and her thoughts of this unnamed man kept her relaxed.

Recently, however, these dreams had begun to change slightly, and not for the better. Not long ago, she had read about a devastating housefire at Whitmore in which many of her former classmates and acquaintences had been killed. Even though she had not talked to them in several years, she felt great dismay and sadness, and her dreams of late were more stressful than they were relaxing. Sometimes the man would be laying in his prison cell groaning, his clothes soiled with blood. She felt helpless in these dreams, trying to reach out to him but unable to reach far enough through the bars. They no longer had jovial chitchats, and sometimes she woke up with dreadful thoughts of the man crying out in agony.

Then, a few days ago she had recieved a letter from a mystery man named Lorenzo requesting her audience, and for some odd reason the wording in the letter felt oddly familiar to the way the man in her dreams used to speak to her before they had become the more recent nightmares. After several days of deliberation, Maggie decided that she would meet with him, even though the circumstance was so unusual. She had an inexplicable feeling that perhaps she was finally going to get some answers about the last decade.


	3. 2 BFF's

BFF's:

Later that Evening

* * *

Damon was not going to let his best and only friend get nabbed by some crazy Augustine protege just because Enzo had some misguided belief that she had loved him once back when she had studied him years ago. Until now, he had simply let Enzo believe that this woman had cared for him since that was the hope that Enzo needed to hold on to in order to deal with the hell that they'd been in at Augustine. Clearly, his friend needed Damon to look out for him so that he didn't end up back in a cage.

As he knocked on the door of the house across from the diner, he realized that he could hear what sounded like a dozen tiny heartbeats inside. The bewildered look on his face was replaced with a sly smirk as the door opened and an old woman stood in front of him holding her knitting project.

"Oh, why hello there!" The aged woman's glazed eyes filled with a child-like sparkle as she looked him over, and two cats sat at her feet, one swatting at a loose string hanging from the object in her hands.

"Hi there to you too," he began sweetly, giving the woman a toothy grin and eyebrow waggle. He was about to ask her to invite him in when he caught sight of a roomful of cats in the background, and his eye's widened a bit in surprise.

The old lady, joyfully surprised with her unexpected guest, reach for his arm and tugged at him gently, "Well, don't be shy! Come in, come in!"

Damon found himself being led through the living room filled with a dozen cats and the incredibly friendly old lady tossed her knitting onto her rocking chair. It was immediately pounced upon by a few kittens, but the woman didn't even notice. She led him to her small kitchen table next to the window that he had been intending to gain access to so that he could watch through the glass and listen in on Enzo and Maggie's 'date'. _Well that works,_ he thought, sitting down where she directed him, giving her a charming smile. She seemed so thrilled that he was there, he hadn't even had to compel his way in. He looked through the window, watching Enzo approach the diner and pause a moment just outside.

* * *

Enzo saw her first, sitting there alone in the restaurant with her legs crossed, as beautiful as he remembered her. She was slightly older, but clearly aging well. She looked to be a bit anxious, so he decided to stop watching her from outside the diner window and entered the establishment.

"Hello, Maggie, I'm Lorenzo. I know you don't remember me, but I can fix that for you now." Enzo attempted to introduce himself, but was stumped when Maggie stood quickly and her face was covered in shock before he could say anything else.

"You...you're him...the man...from my dreams! How? Who are you? Why do I know you?" She couldn't believe who and what she was seeing. How could a figment of her imagination be real?

This completely surprised Enzo, and he had no idea how to respond. She was dreaming about him? That was impossible, he had compelled her to forget everything about him and anything she'd ever seen in the Augustine prison lab. Before he could think or say another word, she looked at him once more and narrowed her eyes for a moment.

 _"What are you?"_

* * *

Damon continued to watch and eavesdrop on Enzo and Maggie's little reunion. So far, it was not going well. Apparently, Enzo had been too weak and malnourished to properly compel away that woman's memories years ago, and she had remembered just about every conversation she'd ever had with him in dreams for the last decade or so. _Splendid_.

"I made you some tea, my dear." The old lady suddenly shoved a pot and teacup at him while he sat by the window. He flinched as one of her many cats rubbed against his legs. He did not expect there to be so many distractions going on, and it made it difficult to focus on his mission.

"Um, thanks...Mrs. Walters." he attempted to ignore her staring at him and continued listening in to Enzo's meeting.

"So what brings such a handsome young stud to my humble home this evening?" the old lady tapped his foot under the table with her own, lightly rubbing it and Damon choked on his tea. This was definitely _not_ happening.

"It's been so long since I've had any guests, aside from my grown children who rarely visit these days." She said regretfully and attempted to wink at him but her eyelid didn't quite close all the way. He briefly wondered if her eyes remained slightly open when she slept. He did not want her distracting him any longer.

"I fear that it is probably all the cats, Mrs. Walters." He kindly looked into her gaze and began his compulsion. "You are going to go back over to your rocking chair and finish knitting the scarf you were working on before I got here. You will stop talking to me and you will forget that I was ever here once I leave."

He returned his focus to the diner, but Enzo and Maggie were no longer in the booth. _Shit_. Damon immediately regretted sparing the old lady, but he left without harming her after weaving his way past the cats.

* * *

Maggie was in shock. 'Dream man' was real. He was right here in front of her trying to tell her about how much he has missed her and how thankful he was that she had talked to him and been so kind. He continued on and she found herself feeling dizzy, her head spinning, dreams and memories flashing in her mind and mixing together into an overwhelming and confusing collage. Then he grasped her hands gently and spoke.

"Please say something, Maggie."

Maggie tried to gather her thoughts and managed to stammer, "Excuse me, I need to visit the ladies' room," and she rushed away from him.

He stood there, not moving from the booth for a moment and she quickly sped past the restrooms and out of the restaurant. She assumed he would be following her and attempted to walk as quickly as possible, looking desperately for a cab. She rounded a corner and gasped as she walked directly into a dark haired man with striking blue eyes and a frightening smirk.


	4. 3 Something Wicked

Something Wicked:

Early the next day

* * *

There had been far too many 'animal attacks' and other bizarre disasters occurring at Whitmore College over the past year. Although it did not really seem to be that beastly little bastard's style of destruction, Mikael was not going to ignore the evidence of vampire carnage. He stepped out of the bus and looked around at the scene before him. Youthful humans were walking around everywhere, ignorant of the danger that was in their presence as they made their way to classes and extracurricular activities.

He frowned, there was very little chance that Klaus had ever been here, but he had run into a dead end after the premature death of that witch, Thaddeus. He'd barely even begun his interrogation of the fiend that had been Klaus's most recent accomplice, when the imp had somehow managed to free himself shortly before thrusting one of Mikaels tools into his own throat, bleeding out in seconds.

The witch had been very strange, with slithering dark veins crawling all over his neck and face as he mumbled incoherent gibberish prior to being subdued and captured. Ever since the absurd witch's death, Mikael had felt himself being followed by some strange darkness that he'd never before encountered, lurking in the shadows wherever he went. He was beginning to feel increasingly paranoid, constantly checking over his shoulder. It was an unwanted distraction, and he hoped killing a few vampires would improve his mood. He would start his investigation by looking into the Whitmore family, since they had been the ones who had been damaged the most significantly by recent events.

* * *

Maggie sat up with a startled gasp, her wrists tied tightly and her eyes blindfolded. She tried to think back to how she had gotten here, but her mind was blank. As she awoke, she could hear two men arguing not far away from where she was sitting.

"Dammit, Damon, that was completely unnecessary! Now she's going to be frightened of us and she'll be impossible to reason with. How am I going to explain this?" The voice sounded like dream man's. Lorenzo, he had told her before she had fled, and then everything was a dark blur.

"Then don't explain it! She's not on vervain since I was able to compel her to take a nap for the roadtrip, so why not just erase it all after we figure out who any and all remaining Augustines are that are still out there? She never would have been studying you in a secret prison cell if she was really this nice, innocent, clueless damsel that you foolishly still believe her to be! Personally, I'd rather just find out what she knows and drain her, but I'm willing to compromise just this once." Damon was getting very frustrated with Enzo's lack of perception on the matter of Maggie James. Enough was enough, time for Enzo to get his brain out of the clouds so that they could do what was necessary. It was starting to feel like he was dealing with Stefan rather than Enzo, and that made him even angrier.

Instead, Enzo went over to Maggie and removed the blindfold, his own anger softening into concerned affection for her as she looked around in fear before gazing into his eyes, hopeful that he might help her escape. The blue eyed, dark haired man threw up his arms and growled irately.

"Okay, fine Enzo, start _explaining_. But when she freaks out and tries to escape or shoves a fork in your eyes , I'll be there to snap her neck and stop her from getting us both killed!" Damon plopped down in a chair, watching Enzo and Maggie from across the room, an exagerated look of contempt and irritation contorting his face. If the situation weren't so terrifying she might have accidently laughed.

Enzo looked back down at Maggie and sighed. This was not going to be easy to begin with, and Damon's threatening presence made it even more impossible. He peered into her gaze, holding her chin up gently. "Remember everything."

When she calmed down from the initial shock of all of her memories returning in their true context, rather than disconnected dreams, she also realized that she was in more danger than she had thought, if that was even possible. These men were _vampires_ , and not just any old vampires. They were escapees from the barbaric disgrace known as Augustine. She suddenly remembered why she had left Whitmore all those years ago. She had discovered the true sadistic nature of the twisted science experimental torture that they were performing on her case study subject, Lorenzo, and she had decided to free him and help him escape. Except, he had stopped her in order to keep her safe. A _vampire_ had shown more compassion than any of her colleagues and mentors, and all this time he had remained there in torment while she had been living a new life in Mystic Falls. She reached up and clasped his hand with her wrists still bound, and he gently freed them, pulling her into a gentle hug and trying to comfort her. "Shh, love, it's okay sweetheart. Everything is fine now. Ask me anything."

Damon rolled his eyes in disgust and stood up. "Are you for real, man? This is ridiculous! We can't trust her! She's playing you, getting sympathy so she can stake you in your sleep, you idiot! When did you become such a pathetic sap Enzo? I can't watch this! You'd better watch your back, brother, she'll only betray you as soon as you give her the chance!" Damon stomped out of the apartment, completely flustered by Enzo's insane trust in this human female. His friend had lost his marbles. Damon needed to go find some fresh, warm blood. Without opening the door, he jumped into the convertible '57 Corvette that he had recently acquired with a bit of compulsion, and headed out to drive around the fringes of campus to look for a damsel in need of a ride.

* * *

Instead, he saw a strange middle aged man that stood out like a sore thumb, lurking around and searching for something or someone. This guy was so out of his element, Damon couldn't help but stare. _What the hell?_ Abruptly he looked away as the weirdo turned sharply and looked straight at him, with eyes that were far more fierce than his own. Damon felt an unsettling surge in his stomach, and forced himself to glance back where the man had been. He was gone. Damon barely caught a glimpse of the mans coat as he dissapeared into a thin alley between buildings. That's when he saw it, something dark and inhuman and ghastly following after the guy. Something he had _never_ seen before and that left him awestruck and pale faced. _What the hell was that?_ Damon shifted the Corvette back into gear and drove away feeling an unnerving sense of doom. He could always drop by the sorority house to acquire a snack from one of his favorite girls before heading home to deal with Enzo's new complication.


	5. 4 The Viking's Shadow

The Viking's Shadow:

A few nights later at the Whitmore College campus...

* * *

Thaddeus swiped at Mikael with tremendous vigor, and Mikael whipped around confused, baring his fangs at...nothing? He pulled his favorite sword from its sheath and stood ready for the next attack. Still nothing.

Thaddeus lashed out again, its phantom limbs clawing through Mikael, but Mikael simply looked around, alert and holding his sword, but entirely unharmed.

"Show yourself fiend!" Mikael bellowed. "You weak coward! You dare follow _ME_? I am the one that makes monsters tremble, I am _the destroyer_!" Where was the vampire that was dashing about in the shadows? How was it so fast that Mikael could not catch it? He was becoming more and more enraged when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching, and sinister giggles coming from around the corner. He sped to the corner and whipped his sword as he turned around the bend.

The two teenage college students that had been watching the drunken nutcase after hearing his hollaring tumbled into a heap at his feet, their heads both rolling away from their bodies.

Mikael became even angrier, but there was no sign of the vampire that had been following him. It would show itself soon enough, he presumed, and Mikael would slaughter it without mercy. As for right now he had discovered some interesting facts about the vampire that he had spotted in the Corvette earlier. He had located a folder with lab reports and images of the vampire's routine disembowelments in the ruins of property that had once belonged to Whitmores. Apparently, that vampire had been a captive of theirs, which led Mikael to conclude that it was likely responsible for much of the mayhem on campus prior to his own arrival. He would hunt that vampire down and smite it, and then he would resume hunting his unwanted shadow nemesis. Still, he couldn't comprehend how fast the creature following him was. Could it be Klaus? Had he broken his curse and become faster than all immortals? He spun around searching rooftops and still saw nothing.

Thaddeus charged at Mikael as he was spinning around and flew right through the Original cannibal. Mikael saw, for the briefest moment, a horrifying distorted face of a hideous monster, but then it was gone. Was the shadow vampire now projecting thoughts into his very mind? Impossible. For he was Mikael, the Original.

"What sort of devil are you? I shall splay every inch of your soul!"

* * *

Damon and Enzo hid in the dark, quite a distance away from the screaming lunatic. It was almost as if he were possessed, swinging a sword at shadows and yelling at the darkness. Aside from the two girls that had thought it'd be a good idea to approach a whacko waving around a sword, they'd yet to see any actual adversary. Enzo was doing his best to suppress his urge to burst out laughing.

"Congratulations, Damon, you found a viking wannabe, and a stark raving mad viking at that." Enzo struggled not to convulse into giggles.

"Shhhhut up, Enzo! I know what I saw earlier. There's something else following crazypants. Just keep watching." Damon tried to lower his voice, hoping Enzo would follow his lead. He did not want them to be heard or spotted. Ever since making eye contact earlier, there was something in his gut warning him that the madman was actually very dangerous, and whatever that other thing he'd saw was, it scared the hell out of him. He glared at Enzo, who had a giant smirk on his face. Suddenly the smirk was gone and Enzo's eyes were wide. Damon quickly looked back over at the spinning viking who began shouting manic threats again. He didn't see anything else, but Enzo had gone still as a rock.

"I saw it Damon, for the briefest moment, it was like a ghoulish shadow appeared flying through our viking there. It's face...it was dreadful."

"What the hell is it?" Damon was asking himself, but Enzo responded anyway.

"How should I know, I've never seen anything like it. Hey, he seems be going off somewhere, are we still going to follow him?"

"Nah, let's get out of here. I'm hungry, and I don't want to get anywhere near that thing without knowing how to kill it. For now, lets avoid all supernaturally haunted vikings." Damon backed away from their spot, and they both left with haste.

* * *

"I think we need a witch."

"A witch?" Maggie cut into the conversation despite Damon's scowl. He had wanted to keep her prisoner, but Enzo and her had gotten overly friendly the last few days and had released her to stay or go as she pleased. She'd stayed, despite her inner voice screaming that she was crazy not to run for help. Enzo had been very kind, and she was intrigued. Damon was tempermental and frightening, but had not harmed her. She was too curious for her own good and she knew it.

The boys had returned to the apartment after spying on the viking to find Maggie cooking a delicious chicken casserole. Damon had snubbed it suspiciously and retrieved a bloodbag instead, but Enzo was delighted. He ate nearly all of it before sitting back down next to her, comfortable and satisfied. He and Damon had already fed on some frat partiers that had wandered away from the herd before coming home, so Enzo thought Damon was being childish guzzling a blood bag just to spite Maggie. It was no secret that Damon hated cold blood.

Damon expected Enzo to keel over and die from vervain poisoning any second, and was looking forward to being able to get rid of Maggie as soon as she made her move.

Instead, Enzo stretched and relaxed back into the couch, putting a hand on Maggie's nearest shoulder and starting to massage it. She leaned closer to him and smiled. Damon twitched and looked anywhere else. Enzo grinned.

"And where do you suppose we find this witch, Damon? I heard there's one out in Oregon. We could send her a letter; 'Dear witch, please come to Whitmore College and help us kill a viking that has a far too lively shadow. Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood vampire watch.'"

Damon glanced around, but couldn't see any viable options within reach for throwing something at Enzo. "I know of a few local witches. They're even indebted to me, except this generation probably doesn't actually know who I am, and they probably won't be friendly, at first."

"Okay? So what's your brilliant and diabolical plan, once you're able to convince a witch that she doesn't want to instantly make you burst into flames? Honestly, I don't even see how this loony viking is even our problem, mate. I say, let's ignore him. No point in creating an enemy that we don't actually have any reason to fight." Enzo and Maggie were practically cuddling now. Damon wanted to throw her out the window. Instead, he stood up and walked over to the window, peering out through the blinds.

"This freak and his minion are on our turf, Enzo. It's only a matter of time before we have to deal with it, and I want to start off with the advantage. We can't let a lunatic run around campus beheading people, or they'll all get scared and start a witch hunt...or viking hunt, or vampire hunt...and then _we_ will have a hard time finding easy food." Damon enjoyed seeing the cringe on Maggie's face when he referred to humans as food. There was no way that this human/vampire relationship was going to pan out, Damon just needed to get Enzo to see it before she did something he'd regret. He kept his eyes on her face as he continued, "We may have decimated most if not all of the Augustine cult, but there's still the Mystic Falls founder's council and other stupid secret societies out there that we don't want to draw the attention of. The viking needs to be put down."

Enzo sighed. "Well dinner was delicious, my dear Maggie, and now I'm ready to turn in for the night. It's been a very long last few days, and you're very welcome to stay here if you'd like." He could hear the sound of Damon grinding his teeth together, so he continued. "I promise that I'll be a perfect gentleman, and I'll keep the dog on a leash."

This time Damon impulsively grabbed a lamp by the window and launched it at Enzo, who was ready for this sort of behavior and caught it without breaking it. Maggie was surprised though, and decided that she'd prefer to head home.

Enzo left with her and didn't return until the following day. He'd only stayed to make sure that she was safe, and had slept on the couch, but Damon didn't need to know. He was humming a jazzy tune as he arrived back home at the front door, and immediately stopped upon reaching it. The door was off the hinges and damaged beyond repair. He entered the apartment and immediately knew that there had been a major fight. The place looked like a tornado had ripped through it, and there was splotches of mostly dry blood all over the place. Damon was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review.

I have a busy work schedule so it may be a week or so before another update, so I should probably explain why Mikael has been running around with a sword in public. Basically, the incorporeal thing that is after him is driving him insane, and he is reverting back to a version of himself that has very little self control or ability to blend in to 'modern' times. He's not so much actually dressed as a viking as he is behaving like one. He's not quite aware of what is happening to himself and believes he's being stalked by a vampire.


	6. 5 Road Trip

Road Trip:

Earlier that night...

* * *

Mikael spotted the flashy red Corvette parked under the illuminating streetlight from all the way down the other end of the road. Before reaching his destination, he watched a man and woman walk out of the small two story building and drive away, hearing them talking about how they might convince someone not to attack a haunted viking. Clearly, they meant him. Directly above them, the silhouette of a man that stood looking through the blinds of a dimmed room moved away from the window. Perhaps that was his target of the night.

* * *

As soon as Enzo and Maggie left, Damon paced around the apartment thinking about ways to capture and kill the obviously supernatural sword wielding freak. There was no way he was going to get any sleep, so he tossed on his leather jacket and was about to head out to find a snack when the front door was suddenly busted inward and a large, brutish man entered. Damon bared his fang face and vamp sped towards Mikael, expecting his fists to land the first blow. They did not.

Instead he was knocked to the side by a massive force smashing him in the face and shattering his nose, jaw and cheekbone. He nearly blacked out from the blow, realizing that this guy was exponentially stronger than him, and landed several yards away next to the kitchen. As he tried to get back up, Mikael sped over to him and Damon's eyes widened in shock as the older vampire violently bit into his neck and began draining him of blood. His face still battered, and losing the ability to heal as his life was literally sucked out of him by this cannibal vampire, he figured that his time was up.

Thaddeus' favorite time to strike was when Mikael was trying to feed because it left his mind vulnerable. So that's exactly when it appeared and rushed into Mikael with frighting wraithlike swipes that were unable to physically hurt it's target. However they were very capable of startling him, and he tossed aside his vampire juice box and flailed his arms at the vile horror.

Damon took advantage of the terrifying distraction by crawling towards the fridge with his remaining strength and chugging as many of Enzo's blood bags as possible. His face began healing and he felt good enough to stand up, pulling a wooden spoon out of a drawer and snapping off the round end. He sped towards the viking intending to stake him with the splintered end, but Mikael spun and backfisted him in the gut at the last second. Damon got up and was about to try rushing in at Mikael again when Thad's attack weakened and Mikael regained what remained of his senses. Damon stopped himself too late and found himself being lifted in the air by the super vampire's vice-like grip around his throat. He felt his windpipe being crushed before being thrown with force into a bookshelf, which toppled onto him. Gasping, he tried to push the heavy shelving off of himself, but before he could get back up it was flung aside and once again Mikael was biting his neck. Before blacking out for the final time, Damon managed to rasp out, "I can ...get witches...help you kill it.."

* * *

Damon opened his eyes in a panic, realizing he was on the floor, but still alive. The shadow of his nemesis stood over him, glaring down.

"You will take me to your witches now, boy, or I will rip your head off."

"Yeah, sure. Let me get a bite to eat real quick. Then I'm sure I can arrange a meeting between you and my witches in the next few days." Damon replied, still trying to regain full conciousness.

That wasn't what Mikael wanted to hear, and he grabbed the younger vampire by the back of his neck, lifting him to his feet before shoving him towards the obliterated doorway.

"You will drive us to them, now. Otherwise, you will die."

"Oh, okay then, let's go." Damon tried to stay upright as Mikael gripped the back of his jacket and practically dragged him outside to the Corvette.

"You drive." Mikael had recently not been able to control a vehicle without the dark shadow attacking him, and saw no point in crashing another car and allowing his captive to possibly escape. It was clear to him now that whatever was after him was definitely not a vampire.

"Yeah, absolutely," Damon rasped as he fell into the driver seat and started the car, glancing over as the filthy, disheveled brute sat down in the passenger side. He looked back directly in front and pulled out into the lane, saying "En route to Mystic Falls, it is."

* * *

Early morning:

"Sooo, what brought you to Whitmore College anyway? Shouldn't you be roaming around northern Europe eating humans?"

Mikael glared over at Damon without responding. Fully recovered from earlier, Damon didn't take the hint, and kept talking. He had figured that since he was the one driving, maybe he could get some answers without getting slaughtered.

"I mean, why feed on vampires? Why here? How did you end up with whatever the hell that thing is following you around?"

"That is none of your concern. You will take me to your witches, and if they rid me of it then I will make your death painless." Mikael's angry response resulted in Damon stopping the car.

"Okay pal, here's the thing. I'm not helping you with jack if you are just going to keep threatening to kill me. Good luck finding anyone else that has any way of helping you. So, unless you want to spend the next century being chased around by your evil shadow monster, I'm gonna need you to be less murdery." Damon braced himself for the impending doom that never came.

"I am Mikael, the _original_ destroyer of your kind. Unless you can point me in the direction of the beastly abomination known as Klaus, who I've been hunting since the origin of all vampires, then we have nothing more to discuss. Take me to your witches and I will leave once I am free of this abberation," Mikael answered with slightly less hostility. This response was obviously the best he was going to get, for now.

Damon pulled back onto the road and continued driving without another word. Either this guy was even more insane than he originally thought, or he was in the most absurd crisis of all time with pretty much zero chance of survival. He didn't even actually "have witches", he merely kept an eye on the Bennett's for the past century, hoping to one day use them to reopen Katherine's tomb. This was going to be a disaster.

* * *

Enzo walked back out of the disaster zone that was formerly his and Damon's apartment. The red '57 Corvette was gone, meaning either his friend was out burying a body (or ten) and would probably return shortly, or the car was stolen and Damon had been abducted by someone or something stronger than him. He regretted leaving for the night, and had absolutely no idea where his friend could possibly be, so he went back inside and started picking through the mess, looking for any clues to go on. The refrigerator had been raided for his bloodbags. There was a broken wooden spoon that may have been intended to be used as a stake. There weren't any real answers to be found. He'd have to try going door to door in nearby buildings compelling neighbors to tell him if they'd seen anything. He walked over to the telephone and dialed Maggie, hoping to warn her that something had happened and that she should stay away from here just in case the danger returned, but she wasn't home and must have already gone to work. Today was going to be dreadful.


	7. 6 Witchy Business

Witchy Business:

Later that same morning:

* * *

A young girl, maybe somewhere between ten or twelve years old, skipped down the street humming the song "This Little Light of Mine" on her way home from the store, carrying the herbs her mother had sent her for. She felt a sudden and frightening chill run through her as a shiny red car drove by, bringing her to a halt. The car slowed to a stop a few houses up ahead, and two strange men got out, walking up to her front door. Something instinctual stopped her from running home while they were there, and she stepped slowly, watching as her mother answered the door. She couldn't hear the conversation, but her mother looked deeply concerned and the men remained outside the door.

She crouched behind her next door neighbor's bush, watching them argue with her mother. The old one frightened her the most, and seemed to have an aura of darkness lingering around him. He seemed very angry and impatient, like he wanted to force his way into the house and hurt her mother, but for some reason he could not. The younger one was dressed in black pants and a dark leather jacket, and he seemed to be rather desperate, his fist slamming into the door frame as Sheila's mother shut the door in their faces.

Sheila sank down onto the ground, peering around the bush and listening to them when they turned around and left the front door. The old one visciously grabbed the dark haired man by his collar, dark veins appearing under his eyes. The younger man tried to hold him off but was clearly not strong enough, and was roughly thrown back against a tree. The old one approached him with morphing eyes and baring fangs, and the girl held back a gasp, her eyes widening at what she was seeing.

"No, wait! I know another one, she's just...scarier. By a lot. And crazy, but very strong!" The young man stammered, trying to retreat from the impending wrath of the angry inhuman one. He was then knocked back with such forced that he slammed into the car several yards behind them.

"No more delays, take me there _NOW_!" The older man nearly roared, but his face returned to normal as he entered the car, slamming the passenger door.

As the younger man climbed into the driver's side and began to drive away, the girl was sure that she saw a dark and frightening presence following behind. She left the cover of the bush and ran into her house, flinging open the door, causing her mother to look over at her surprised but relieved. She quickly shut the door behind her and looked back over to her mother with questions.

"Who were they, Mama? The old one, what was he?" the girl asked her mother fearfully.

"They were something that I hope you will never run into, baby." Her mother walked over and grasped her shoulders. "Don't ever, ever let them in our house if they come back. If you ever again feel how you felt today, it's very important that you stay away from them and whatever happens don't invite them in, you hear me child?" The girl nodded and Amelia Bennett walked over and removed a small box from a bookshelf containing odd trinkets that belonged to their ancestors, opening it to reveal a cloudy grey crystal-like object with a hole that seemed to tunnel into it in a spiral.

"What is that?" she asked her mother curiously.

"This is something that we've held onto for generations now, and if anyone comes here looking for it, you must not give it to them, child." Amelia placed it back in the box and put it in a nightstand drawer. There were many things her daughter was still far too young to know about, and she hoped to keep them from her for a very long time. Three of these things had just come knocking; vampires, evidence of the use of dark magic, and a menace spawned from the deathly corruption of a dark witch...none of which she ever wanted herself or young Sheila to become involved with.

* * *

Mikael wanted to drain this insolent vampire before ripping out his heart, but he managed to hold back his rage and allow his unwanted cohort to drive them to one final stop. Apparently, the Bennett witches who Damon had claimed would help were unable to deal with the sort of incorporeal thing that was ripping away at his sanity, calling it a manifestation of dark magic. Now, Damon claimed that he knew of an estranged witch 'cousin' of the Bennett family who was into the more controversial dark magic.

In fact, Eloise Turner was often willing to work with vampires, for a price that he had never been willing to pay before. Her grandfather had essentially been banished from the Bennetts decades ago, and she was not afraid to follow in his footsteps, mastering the dark arts that defied and corrupted nature. The Bennetts had severed the link that the Turner's had with her ancestors, and no longer acknowledged them as family. Damon had always avoided them, figuring Emily would give him a pass from protecting her less desirable decendants, and was certainly not thrilled to be driving down her creepy winded dirt driveway in the boonies. Finally, the bumpy ride ended as they arrived at a poorly maintained cottage that was shrouded by brittle dry weeds.

"Alright, here we are. Feel free to go get her, big guy." Damon said, making no effort to exit the car and hoping to stay outside. Mikael, of course, was not about to allow that, and they found themselves invited inside without any hesitation by a thin, almost ghastly woman in her early forties. Her skin was dark but thin and even darker veins noticably crept around all over her, as if her blood had blackened, making her look older.

"Eloise Turner?" Damon raised his eyebrow, trying not to shudder.

"Who else?" She replied, looking over Mikael with interest. Mikael watched her in disgust as she appeared to consume him with her gaze before her thin lips turned into an ugly grin. "I see that you have the misfortune of having acquired an allip."

"Owl lip?" Damon repeated with a snort, immediately silenced by her glare.

" _Allip_." Eloise replied, matter of factly. "Very rare, indeed. A corrupted spector of what was once a powerful witch, who's death was its own doing and its need for vengeance towards the one it blames has linked it to this realm, but only enough for it to share it's madness with it's victim. You," she looked at Mikael. "Anger any dark witches lately? Hopefully not any of my friends, most of them still owe me favors that I haven't had the chance to collect..."

Mikael frowned at her. "There was one called Thaddeus, he was loyal to my enemy Klaus, but he killed himself before I was able to learn anything useful from him." Upon hearing its name, Thad began shrieking and striking at Mikael.

Damon flinched at the sudden appearance of the grotesque face that babbled in a discomforting pitch, trailed by its inky wisp of a body, thrashing around Mikael, who once again flailed his arms at the dark phantom.

Eloise let out a disturbingly excited hoot, proceding to roll back her eyes for a moment while her dark veins began slithering and expanding as if absorbing some of its energy. Suddenly, her eyes returned to normal as it vanished from sight and she exhaled loudly. The dark veins under her skin stopped moving and faded to a duller shade.

"It has a very powerful link to you that is keeping part of its spirit in this world instead of passing to the other side. Such an immense amount of dark magic would require an exhausting ritual to drain it all away." she looked expectantly at Mikael.

"If you can kill it, then do so." he replied, demandingly.

"There are things I will need, but the link it has to you in this world can be broken. That would effectively "kill" the allip, causing it to be banished to the other side like a normal supernatural spirit." This would also allow Eloise to gain a substantial amount of power, but the vampires did not need to know the details.

"What's in it for you?" asked Damon with suspicion, knowing that she wouldn't help for free.

Eloise looked over and smiled at him and he tried not to back away. "In order to contain the power of the dark magic in a way that doesn't overload my living body with a lethal amount of power, you must first take and return to me the 'dampening conduit crystal' that was stolen from my grandfather by the Bennett witches. Without it, I cannot perform the draining ritual."

She looked at Mikael and continued, "You should stay here, where I am able to temporarily weaken the allip whenever it lashes out." At this, Mikael began to protest that he had to go with Damon to ensure the completion of any tasks, but Eloise gripped Damons arm, mumbling and leaving a strange mark causing him to shout in surprise.

"Aaah! What the hell did you just do to me?" he growled, holding his arm with his other hand.

"It's a hex that I can remove when you return with my crystal. If you don't, then you will die within a week. You should return sooner though, symptoms will appear much quicker and if they damage your body too much it will become irreversible," she shrugged, showing no sign of remorse.

"What does this damn thing look like and where will I find it?" Damon snarled at the witch, wanting to get away from both this awful place and Mikael the madman as soon as possible.

She drew a sloppy picture of a crystal with a spiral on it on a small note, handing it to him. "It's grey with a hole winding through it. I believe its currently being held by Amelia Bennett. You won't be able to ask her for it; the Bennetts don't want me to have it, so you'll need to steal it back."

"Right. On it." Damon replied and turned to leave before she stopped him.

"One more thing, bring your friends, you'll need them." Damon's mouth hung open in surprise.

"My friends, for what? How do you..."

Eloise cut him off, "Bring the vampire and his human woman when you return. Otherwise, suffer the consequences of the hex. No more questions. You should go." She shooed him away and had Mikael sit down, telling him that she needed him to relax so she could block Thaddeus from returning.

Damon sped out of the wretched place before anything else terrible happened. He got back in his car, glad to be leaving but glancing aprehensively at the strange mark on his arm. It had an irritating itch that he couldn't help but scratch. He turned the car around and began driving back up the bumpy dirt road. Glancing at the sky, he realized that it was almost dinner time, so Maggie would be leaving work soon. It would be quicker to head her off and have her ring up Enzo from the hospital telephone and get him to come to Mystic Falls. He debated ignoring the witches demands completely and either trying to get the crystal by himself and keeping his friend out of the situation, or trying to make the Bennett witch remove the hex, but he had the sinking feeling that would fail and Eloise would know.


	8. 7 Augustinette

Augustinette:

Later that same evening in Mystic Falls:

* * *

"I _HATE_ witches!"

Enzo grabbed Damons wrist. "If you dont stop scratching that thing your gonna shred your arm off. Not to mention how unpleasant it is to watch."

"Let me go," Damon yanked his arm free from Enzo's grasp, frowning at the bloody mess on his hexed arm, watching as it slowly healed and the mark reappeared, and with it the unpleasant itch slowly returned. His right hand was covered in blood from ripping his left arm to shreds over and over. Maggie had tried giving him various ointments and ice packs, but nothing helped. Tearing his skin off didn't last long enough to count. She also attempted to wrap a bandage around it but he tore it away moments later.

"So let me get this straight. An evil witch hexed you with a death sentence just to blackmail you into getting some trinket so she can help that lunatic viking? Why isn't this making any sense to me whatsoever? What motivation could she possibly have..." Enzo drank another mug of coffee while Maggie brewed them more. They had all reunited back at her home in Mystic Falls a few hours ago in order to figure things out after finally getting ahold of Enzo. He hadn't been able to track down any leads and had returned to the guys' wrecked apartment to hear the telephone ringing off the hook.

"Uh, yeah, that about sums it up. I mean, if she hadn't hexed me, there's no way I'd have ever gone back there, but I dunno why she wants to help that freak so much. It was almost like she got excited when she saw him, for a second I thought she was gonna jump his bone, it was creepy as hell." Damon resumed scratching his arm without even noticing.

"Why don't you try to get help from the good witch? Giving the evil witch what she wants doesn't seem like a very good idea." Maggie joined the conversation as if she was going to be involved, much to Damon's irritation.

He furrowed his brows before responding. "If I let the Bennett witch know anything, there's no way I'll ever be able to find what I need to take in order to get Eloise to unhex me, and Amelia Bennett already refused to help me once today so thats not really an option. Me and Enzo will have to steal it tonight before I get any more of these _symptoms_."

"How exactly do you plan on getting in their house?" Maggie was really getting on Damon's nerves, but all he could think about was the endless itching. He looked up at her with a frown at the same time as Enzo made it perfectly clear that there was no way that Maggie was getting involved. Changing the subject, Enzo wanted to know more about the cannibal vampire and his 'allip'. Damon filled him in on the full story of his adventures with Mikael, as well as what the witch had told them about it being some sort of evil suicidal dark witch ghost hellbent on tormenting the one it blamed for its self inflicted demise. Damon didn't really understand the whole spirit link between the other side and Mikael needing to be drained part, but tried to repeat what the dark witch had said anyway.

"So why did she _want_ you to bring me and Maggie into this? So much of this just isn't adding up. I don't like the idea of doing any of this without understanding her true motivations, and I certainly don't want Maggie in any danger." Enzo and Maggie were convinced that the best move was begging Amelia Bennett for help, but Damon was too afraid it wouldn't work, and he _really_ wanted to get rid of the hex. It made thinking about other options undesirably risky, and he was becoming more and more frustrated that they wouldn't just blindly help him.

"Enough debating, either you help me steal that crystal thingy tonight, or I'll find some way to lure her and her daughter out of the house just to kill them so I can get inside!"

Earlier that day, Damon had noticed the child hiding behind the bush when Mikael was knocking him around, recognising her as definitely being a Bennett, even if he had never officially met her before. "Maybe I'll just kidnap that little girl and force mama witch to hand the crystal over and remove the hex!" He stood up and began walking out of Maggie's house expecting Maggie to pout and Enzo to join him. Instead, the increasingly frustrating woman tried to rush in front of him to stop him. His face began to transform, and he made sure she could see his fangs.

"No, don't you dare!" Maggie still stood in front of the door with her hands out and Enzo sped over in front of her, knowing that Damon was not in the sort of mood to let her stand in his way.

"Damon, stop, I'll help you okay?" Enzo quickly interrupted her and gently moved Maggie aside, continuing, "Don't worry love, no little witches will be harmed. I promise." He followed Damon out the door, hoping Maggie wouldn't follow.

"You shouldn't make promises that you may not be able to keep," Damon said coldly, brushing past Enzo and heading outside without looking back. Much to Enzo's dismay, Maggie heard this and threw on her coat, following them out. Enzo nearly panicked when he saw a stake and a few syringes of ...vervain? neatly tucked into special pockets inside of her jacket and the determined look on her face. _Oh shit_ , he thought watching her squeeze into the Corvette before he could stop her, and he quickly climbed in next to her. Damon glared at her, but shifted into gear anyway. He was done wasting time. When this was over, he'd make sure that things went back to the way they were when it was just him and Enzo against the world.

* * *

It was already late evening as they neared the Bennett home, and he pulled to a stop a short way past the house next to a vacant wooded lot. The lights were on in the witch's home, but the blinds were shut and he hadn't been able to hear how many people were inside while driving by.

Damon looked over at his two tagalongs. "Enzo, you ring the front doorbell and try to get them to step outside without letting them touch you, and I'll stay hidden behind the corner. Grab the girl if she walks out first to use as a hostage. Don't kill the witch unless we have to, she's a Bennett. If they won't come out easy, I'll tear the place apart piece by piece. I won't leave without getting either the crystal or the witch."

Damon looked condescendingly at Maggie and she frowned back as he rudely commanded, "You shouldn't even be here lady, so stay in the damn car."

He opened his car door and started to get out, itching frantically at his arm distractedly. Then, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the middle of his back, and fell to the ground blacking out.

Right as Enzo started to get up from his seat, he heard Damon fall with a loud "Oomph." He spun back around and couldn't believe what he saw. Maggie had stuck Damon in the back with a syringe of vervain and she remained seated, crossing her arms.

"I've got a better idea," she said, looking at Enzo. He tilted his head quizzically, and then grinned at her confident boldness for a second. Shaking his head, he walked around the car to retrieve Damon and load his unconscious friend into the car. His grin faded when he got a full view of the syringe sticking out of Damon's back. There was an Augustine emblem on it.

* * *

After loading Damon into the trunk, Enzo sat down in the driver's seat, looking at Maggie with deep concern. She had scooted into the passenger seat and frowned at his sudden change in mood.

"What?" she said, "I couldn't risk letting him harm that poor girl or her mother! He's not thinking clearly right now Lorenzo, and you could have gotten hurt too."

Enzo studied her for any signs of deception but still only saw the sweet woman that he cared so deeply for. "Where did you get the vervain darts Maggie?" He figured the direct approach was the best way to get answers. She didn't even hesitate with her response, and he felt more at ease.

"When I got my memories back, I realized that those acquaintences that had been dying from 'animal attacks' this past year were all people involved in Augustine. I did some quick investigating of my own and managed to get into a few of the labs that I remembered being shown in the months before I even met you for the first time. Most of those places were destroyed, either by you two, or by the scientists covering their tracks while trying to escape from you. But your attacks were chaotic and sloppy, and I found some things that you missed or never found out about." She looked at him for a reaction, but he remained calm and she continued.

"Before I was ever allowed near a real live vampire, _You_ , they trained me in certain protocol, including knowledge of how to kill or stop a vampire. They also gave introductory tours, including the location of where they cultivate the vervain. Another of my duties as a student was to assist with its caretaking, and I am now the only remaining person aware of its existence. I've been preparing myself for any unpleasant encounters with Damon since the day he kidnapped me. The vervain dart i stuck him with is special, it was a prototype that one of the lab scientists you killed had been working on, and he had it tucked away safely. It isnt just vervain, it contains tiny time released microcapsules of ultra concentrated doses. According to the doctor's research, Damon should be knocked out a full 18 hours. This gives us time to make wiser decisions. Now, if you would, please drive us back to my house Lorenzo."

Enzo stared at Maggie in awe. This was not a side of her he'd ever seen before, and he loved it. Now he just needed to find a way to keep Damon from killing her when he woke up. Or, maybe he should be more worried about her killing Damon when he tried.


	9. 8 The Job

The Job:

* * *

As he drove them back to Maggie's house, Enzo decided that Damon's rag top '57 Corvette was really a blast to drive. It had quite a kick to it compared to the older automobiles that he was accustomed to. He was starting to have a bit too much fun goosing it when he heard Maggie groan and her hands flew up to the dash in order to brace herself while turning a corner. "Sorry gorgeous. This machine is incredible!" She nodded with a bit of a grimace before reminding him that they didn't need to get pulled over with Damon in the trunk.

They soon arrived at her house and Enzo carried in his unconcious friend, noticing that a dark black line was forming from the hex mark. Dropping the vampire face down on Maggie's couch he looked closer and noted that the dark line was beginning to run up the vein of Damon's forearm. Pointing it out to Maggie confirmed his worries. She believed that the dark magic could be spreading like a lymphatic infection and become fatal to him despite being a vampire. The evil witch had likely been telling the truth about that at least. They needed to enact a plan fast, preferably before he woke up angry and with any more symptoms.

Enzo knew Maggie still didn't want to go against her morals, but he wasn't so sure that Damon had any other safe options besides giving the dark witch what she wanted. "Damon was probably right to be concerned about the Bennett witch preventing us from getting the crystal for that dark wench. I don't think we can risk asking her for help. We should take it first, while we still can."

Maggie sighed, but surprisingly she nodded at Enzo. "Fine, but only so long as noone gets hurt. I've met Amelia Bennett and her daughter a handful of times since living in Mystic Falls, and I have an idea that could distract her and allow us to both get invited in. You'll have to keep your distance behind me and avoid getting too close to either of them so that they don't sense what you are, or my plan won't work."

He looked at her curiously. "What do you have in mind?"

As Maggie explained her plan, Enzo realized that she could be throwing away the quiet and content life she had made here in Mystic Falls, just to help save Damon who had been nothing but salty towards her. Even if all went according to plan, she may lose her job at the hospital, and by getting involved at all, she'd be putting herself in danger. She was the most selfless and independant woman he'd ever met, and in that moment he had to kiss her.

Maggie had been focused on planning their encounter with the witches, and the feeling of his lips on hers so suddenly caught her by complete surprise. It was so unexpected, but felt wonderful, and she leaned in, letting him make her forget everything else on her mind. She'd been by herself for so long without letting anyone into her life that she had gotten used to being alone. For some reason she knew that she'd been waiting for Lorenzo to return to her all this time, whether she'd consciously remembered him or not. They'd only been reunited for a few days, but he'd haunted her dreams for years. She would help him save his friend tomorrow, regardless of the consequences, because somehow she was in love with this man, this _vampire_ , despite her better judgement.

She took his hand and led him to her room, trembling, her heart pounding. He let her lead him until they were next to her bed, and then he took charge with gentle caresses until she completely became his.

* * *

The next morning, Enzo was snowed to find her still sleeping wrapped up in his arms. He lightly ran his hand down the soft skin of her back and she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him. Seconds later, she leaped out of bed and wrapped herself in her robe, fleeing the room.

Enzo was startled, and jumped up to follow her, wondering what he had done wrong, only to find her standing just outside the bedroom and completely calm once again. He followed her gaze to the couch where Damon still lay undisturbed.

"He's still there," she said, breathing loudly but the panicked look faded from her face. "I wasn't sure..."

Enzo breathed a sigh of relief, embracing her and relaxing when she didn't leave his arms. She was reminded of his presence and looked at him apologetically.

"I thought you said that vervain dart would last a full 18 hours?" he asked her, confused by her actions.

"I couldn't be sure, it was only a prototype and I honestly have no idea if it was ever tested." He cringed when she used the word 'tested' and released her from his hold. She noticed his discomfort and felt guilty, but needed to tell him the truth anyway. "I had intended to keep an eye on him overnight just to be sure. I probably shouldn't have even used it on him since I don't know if it will have any side effects, but I didn't have enough time to be picky when he rushed out to assault the Bennetts. I didn't exactly plan on _any_ of last nights...events." She reached for his hands to make sure he knew that she didn't regret their night together, hoping he wouldn't be upset with her.

Enzo recovered quickly and kept hold of one of her hands, walking the two of them over to check on Damon. The dark line had grown further from the hex mark to reach the crease inside his elbow, but he showed no signs of any other new physical symptoms and was just as motionless as he had been hours earlier that night. A puddle of drool drenched the couch under his face. Enzo looked back up at Maggie, and they decided to go forward with her plan right away. Enzo was a little bummed that'd he'd have to drive Maggie's simple old '40s coupe instead of the Corvette.

* * *

Hearing the doorbell ring, Sheila hopped up from her homework before her mother could stop her and pulled the door open to greet the nicely dressed dark skinned woman holding a clip board with paperwork. A Mystic Falls hospital badge with the name "Margaret" was pinned to her chest, and she kindly introduced herself as Maggie. Behind her stood a handsome man in a suit, who she introduced as her supervisor and escort, Laurence. He winked at Sheila and she giggled right as her mother appeared in the doorway behind her. Amelia relaxed, she'd seen this woman working at the hospital in town.

"Good morning, Mrs. Bennett, I was hoping to talk to you about a new program I'm assisting with at the hospital. It's a wonderful opportunity for young girls like your daughter to get a head start. You see, we are looking to give promising female students some experience in the work place with the hope that they will be encouraged to take advantage of the new opportunities that may be becoming increasingly available with the changes happening in today's world. There is a growing need for new nurses, and with the possibilities of upcoming wars, the hospital believes we should start recruiting young girls now. Even if she doesn't end up in the medical field, this could make a fantastic difference in your child's future. I'd love to tell you more about it, but I have quite a bit of information to go through." Maggie nodded to her clip board and intentionally looked down at her feet, shifting her heels as if they were in pain and making a noticeable wince.

Amelia Bennett saw the excitement in her daughter's eyes and asked them to come in and have a seat, not noticing Enzo's slight reluctance. Maggie did a fantastic job distracting them and getting little Sheila signed up for her program. She felt a little like a shuckster, but the program was actually in the works and the forms that she brought were real, they just hadn't been released yet. Hopefully, the opportunity would end up being real and the child wouldn't be dissappointed, she thought guiltily. At least now, Lorenzo would have access to the house, and she trusted him not to harm them.

Enzo kept his distance from the women and did his best to go unnoticed, spending the time glancing around the living room, looking for places that the crystal could be hidden. Based on the scribble Damon had received from Eloise, the object was not out in the open anywhere that he could see. After getting the girl signed up, Maggie followed behind Enzo out the door, and surprisingly the plan had worked so well that the witch had never even noticed that a vampire had been allowed into her home.

* * *

They watched and waited from a distance, hoping that the witches would leave the home unattended, and it wasn't long before they were in luck. The two Bennetts left on foot down the street together and dissappeared around a corner headed towards the town center. Enzo didn't waste any time, speeding around the back of the house through an open window. There were books, and trinkets and shelves everywhere. _This place could be an antique shop_ , he thought, as he frantically opened drawers and sped around searching through their belongings like a jewel thief. Quite a few of the odd items burned or zapped him if he touched them.

He was about to give up on the crystal being here when a small fancy old wooden box tucked snugly in the back of a drawer caught his eye. Opening it, he smiled widely. There was no mistaking the strange spiral cutting through the cloudy gray crystal. He removed it from the box, tucking the crystal into his pocket and returning the box to its previous location and shutting the drawer. With any luck, the witch wouldn't notice he'd ever been here.

He jumped back out the window and sped back to the car, his sudden arrival catching Maggie by surprise. She yelped, adorably. He grinned, showing her the object, which she took from him and began inspecting while he drove them back home. It was time to return to Damon and convince him they were still on his side once he finally woke up. Hopefully, the action of retrieving the crystal would speak for itself.

* * *

Enzo paced around the living room. Damon was still completely out and it was getting late in the afternoon. That dark line was growing further up his arm, and Enzo noticed that the vampire's hand was starting to look a little gray, just shy of dessication. Maggie was becoming concerned that the continued release of vervain that kept him unconsious may also be weakening him and allowing the hex to damage him faster than the witch had warned. They needed to wake him up, but even injecting him with Enzo's and Maggie's blood hadn't had any effect.

They searched his jacket and found the address to Eloise Turner's cottage. Enzo tried to convince Maggie not to come, but she insisted that the witch may refuse to unhex Damon if they didn't comply with all of her demands. So, they loaded him into the trunk of the Corvette and equipped themselves with her collection of stolen Augustine weaponry even though it wasn't meant to be used on dark witches, viking originals, or allips.

Hopefully, Damon would wake up and be of use, Enzo thought to himself, as he drove the three of them towards an unknown fate. Looking over at Maggie sitting in the passenger seat with her face showing a determined, steely resolve, he felt a bit more optimism than he knew he should.


	10. 9 The Darkening

The Darkening:

...Back at the Cottage of Eloise Turner

* * *

Mikael was pacing around in the circle that Eloise had trapped him in after he'd become impatient and tried to leave in order to hunt down that vampire. He'd become enraged and shouted threats until he found himself no longer able to open his mouth thanks to that witch. When this was over, he intended to kill both of them. Finally, after hours of endless pacing, he heard the sound of a car turn down the dirt road. He grunted, waking the sleeping witch, who'd been draining the allip's power every time it had attacked for the last few days and had been taking a short nap. Strangely, she did not look the least bit tired. In fact, every time she disrupted Thaddeus she seemed to consume its dark power and become stronger.

Of course, his observations were correct, and despite how awful she looked she was nearly bursting with dark magic. Soon, she'd have to cease absorbing any more until she could use the conduit crystal, or she'd end up destroying herself. The Bennett witches had managed to prevent her grandfather and mother from ever reaching immense power by stealing the crystal from the Turners, knowing that too much dark magic would simply kill them. Her body of flesh and blood could only contain so much without diverting the harmful effects, which she could do in small amounts by entering the trance-like state she'd just been in, bleeding the terminal effects out to the life surrounding her home. It was far too slow of a process to keep her alive if she were to absorb such a massive amount of dark power as the full link between Mikael and the allip would provide.

* * *

If Damon had been awake, rather than unconscious in the trunk, he'd have noticed that the dead weeds surrounding the cottage had expanded, as if the house itself was killing the forest with its presence. Instead, Enzo and Maggie just thought the place looked miserable and lifeless as they arrived. Stepping out of the Corvette, the surroundings gave Maggie the chills, as if the air was colder the closer they arrived to the front door. Enzo retrieved Damon and walked in front of Maggie since she refused to remain in the car and had insisted on carrying the crystal. The truth was she didn't want him going in alone. The door opened before they reached it, revealing a hideous woman. Behind her, Enzo could see the viking pacing irritably.

"So, my errand boy returns, and I see he brought guests," she chuckled, amused at the unconcious state of the vampire that Enzo still carried.

"About that," Enzo started, "If you want the crystal, we need you to fix him first." He dumped Damon on the ground in front of them, pointing at the hex mark and the dark line running all the way up under his white, short sleeve shirt.

She looked at Enzo with an intimidating sneer, intending to fill him with unease, but she was impressed as held her gaze and narrowed his eyes. Usually, that look made people and vampires back away from her disturbed, giving her better control over them so she could take whatever she wanted. Enzo wasn't one to be stared down, as Damon had found out many times.

"Oh, I intend to, but he may have lingering effects. The hex seems to be more advanced than it should have been. I'll attribute that to whatever you used to put him in his current state of uselessness. Come in, and bring him over to the table." She turned and walked away, waiting for Enzo to pick up her subject and set him where she'd instructed. Mikael watched from inside his prison circle without speaking, which Enzo found strange after having witnessed his previous belligerance at the campus.

Maggie followed closely behind Enzo, feeling more uncertain than before they'd arrived. The witch's gaze turned towards her, and Eloise called her over, pulling out a knife. Enzo saw this and instinctively rushed past Maggie at the witch, but the dark veins covering Eloise darkened and slithered and he felt himself being launched back into the wall by an invisible force, pinning him there.

She returned her gaze to Maggie, gripping her arm with a strength that seemed unnatural for her frail figure causing the human woman to feel chills running through her. "I need your blood in order to continue. Hold still, dear. This won't hurt," Eloise lied as she sliced the jagged blade across Maggie's wrist, which she held over a bowl. Maggie didn't even have the chance to argue, before the witch released her arm, and Enzo fell back to the floor with a thump. He immediately attempted to vamp speed attack the witch, but Eloise flicked her wrist and he slammed into a glowing force that seemed to burn through him before vanishing, causing immense pain. He fell to his knees beside Maggie and she rushed over to help him up, holding onto him tightly.

"No more bad ideas, and you won't get turned into toads," Eloise hissed before laughing. "That was a joke, of course. I prefer to make my victims suffer in agonizing pain."

Enzo and Maggie looked at each other, making no attempts to interrupt her again, even as she poured Maggie's blood into multiple tubes and capped them. She then walked over to Damon and gripped his hexed arm, and they watched as the mark transformed into the same slithering blackness as it moved from his arm across to hers, her eyes rolling back during the transfer of dark magic. The mark and black line both vanished from his arm, and the gray skin filled with its normal color. He suddenly gasped, his eyes flying open as he sat up in shock and tried to get his bearings. He looked around the room, glanced at his arm, and then focused on Maggie, anger replacing his confusion as he tried standing up. Still quite weak, he struggled to stay standing.

"Now, now. No killing your dear friends before they help us complete the darkening ritual." Eloise snickered. Not that he would have had any chance at overpowering Enzo to get to Maggie at the moment, but the witch clearly enjoyed taunting them. Enzo went over to Damon to help him stay on his feet, signaling to Maggie to keep her distance.

"Why did you even need her blood? You didn't use it to remove the hex." Enzo questioned, but the witch shrugged.

"Payment. Pure, untainted human blood is very useful in all kinds of magic. Now, give me my crystal," Eloise demanded, holding her hand out towards Maggie, who reluctantly dropped it into her palm and backed away again. The witch smiled evilly, her eyes gleaming. She retrieved a vial of Maggie's blood, pouring it into the crystal, and they watched as it filled the spiral interior with crimson.

Damon raised his eyebrows confused about what was happening, and how he had even gotten here. "Anyone wanna tell me what's going on?" He looked to Enzo for some sort of explaination, but Enzo could only shake his head and tell him they had no idea at this point. While Enzo told Damon that they'd managed to get the crystal and gotten Eloise to remove the hex, they watched Eloise release Mikael from his invisible prison and call him forward. Damon thought it was odd how Mikael did as he was told, remaining silent and compliant, as the witch held the blood filled crystal to the hilt of his sword. She mumbled eerie gibberish, and the crystal seemed to sink into the hilt, staying in place within the hardened metal. Mikael stared at the sword and grunted again at Eloise, and it dawned on the rest of them that he had been rendered mute. Damon and Enzo looked at each other in silent agreement to cooperate with the witch for now, until an opportunity presented itself to make a move.

"Come." Eloise stated, signalling for everyone to follow her outside.

Behind the cottage, burnt within the weeds, there was a large circle nearly as wide as the house. Next to it was a small circle that was just large enough for one person to stand within.

"Vampires, into the circle so we can begin," Eloise commanded, pointing to the large one.

"Yeah, no. That's not happening. You got your magic crystal, so we're outta here." replied Damon, turning around to walk towards the car and nodding at Enzo to follow. Instantly, he found himself being grabbed from behind by Mikael.

"Hey, cool it asshole!" he yelled, tearing his own shirt as he tried and failed to break free of the old vampire's grasp.

Enzo sped over and tried to throw a punch but Mikael was faster, and a second later the two younger vampires were dragged into the circle and thrown to the ground. Damon got up and tried to vamp speed out, but the circle had an invisible wall and he bounced backwards painfully. They were trapped inside the circle with Mikael, who carried the sword enchanted with the blood fueled crystal and glared down at them. They stood back up facing the viking and watching the witch, trying to figure out what was going on.

Enzo watched helplessly as the witch telekinetically pulled Maggie into the seperate small circle as Maggie cried out for Eloise to stop and let them go. Ignoring her pleas, Eloise stood directly behind the small circle Maggie was stuck in so that the human woman was located between the witch and the large circle that was trapping Mikael, Damon, and Enzo.

Eloise looked over at the men and began giving them instructions, ignoring Damon's threats and Enzo's protests to Maggie being part of the ritual. "Vampires, prepare to fight the allip when I strengthen its bond to Mikael, enabling it to come forth fully without disappearing and to physically attack all of you within the circle for the duration of the darkening spell. Mikael must thrust the sword into the allip and maintain contact for the crystal to dampen the damage to me as I absorb the link that's keeping the allip here in this world. Once I begin the spell to drain the dark magic I will be unable to stop, so the sword must not break contact with the allip, or I will be overwhelmed by the enormous amount of power, and none of us will survive. When the darkening is over, you will be free to go...if you manage to survive."

* * *

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" Damon grabbed his chest as blood spilled from the deep gash he'd acquired from Thaddeus's wraithlike talons. The pain burned fiercely, every strike from the allip that landed cut through them like ice, leaving a deathly sensation of stinging coldness in every wound. Without weapons, him and Enzo were no more than a distraction for the allip, forced to fight for their lives every time it overtook Mikael.

The viking vampire fought it with strength that the younger vampires had never seen, but the allip seemed to dodge every thrust of his sword, shrieking only when slashed, but its inky gaslike form never seemed to take any real damage. The crystal in the swords hilt would glow slightly every time it made contact, but dim when the allip pulled out of reach. Maggie watched helplessly from inside the small circle she was stuck in as Enzo and Damon got tossed around brutally.

Eloise remained still and silent after having brought the allip forth at full strength physically bound within the circle, waiting for the vampires to gain the upper hand. Every time Thaddeus took down Mikael after incapacitating the younger vampires, she rolled her eyes in frustration. This allip must have been an extremely dark witch when it was alive, and she couldn't wait to begin the darkening and drain its power.

The truth was, she could begin at any time but she would only be able to survive if the crystal, imbued with Maggie's blood, were in full contact with the allip. She had lied about its purpose, as it would not dampen any dark magic, instead it would work as a means to seperate the harmful dark essence that would kill her from the beneficial power she could gain while draining the allip. Of course, that harmful energy must go somewhere and the crystal was infused with its intended target's blood, if only those vampires could do their job...

Damon's wound healed slowly, as all the damage caused by the allip seemed to linger longer than normal injuries, and he motioned to Enzo to flank Thaddeus from the other side as Mikael seemingly rose from the dead once again. Never had they ever seen a vampire quite so indestructible as the viking, and Damon could have sworn he'd seen the nightmarish creature cause damage to him that would have destroyed himself or Enzo. Luckily for them, Thaddeus clearly only cared to focus the full force of its true attack on Mikael. As soon as Mikael looked ready to fight once again, and the allip lunged forth at him, Damon and Enzo sped at it from the sides and held onto it with all their strength, trying not to release it despite the horror and painful chill they felt while touching it. As they held it back from being able to attack the viking, Mikael impaled it with his sword and the crystal glowed a dark crimson from the bloody spiral within.

Finally, Eloise began to chant the dark magic power draining spell. The allip shrieked incoherently, weakening and locked in place. Damon and Enzo could hold on no longer, falling away and writhing in pain that faded soon after they had let go. They watched as slithering tendrils of dark magic began to shoot out from Thaddeus where the sword was lodged, penetrating through the entrapment circle and piercing through Maggie before turning a lighter shade of brown and entering into Eloise.

The witch appeared to be comfortably and delightfully absorbing the power with no ill effects. Maggie, on the other hand was clearly in agony, gasping and becoming weaker and weaker every second as she struggled to breathe.

"Maggie, no!" Enzo screamed, throwing himself at the boundary of the circle, trying to get out and help Maggie as the dark magic ripped through her.

Damon was torn as his friend helplessly watched Maggie die. The part of him that loved his friend wanted Enzo to be happy, but the selfish part of him wanted her gone, and figured that maybe this new all powerful Eloise would be able to open Katherine's tomb. It was clear to him that the witch was fully engaged in draining the allip and she had previously stated that she'd be unable to stop once it began. The one thing keeping her alive was the conduit crystal, which was also the one thing killing Maggie, but only if it stayed in contact with the allip via Mikael's sword. Damon groaned. He wanted to be selfish. So, he was very surprised when he found himself launching full speed at Mikael, knocking the large vampire down and breaking the sword's connection with the allip, causing the crystal to dim.

Immediately, Maggie fell to the ground, moaning and weak but still alive barely. The black slithering tendrils had redirected directly into Eloise, causing blood to pour from her ears and nose as she was unable to stop the spell. The allip remained stuck in place as all of its magic poured out, allowing Mikael to rise in anger, gripping Damon by his throat and plunging his fist into his chest. Before he was able to rip Damon's heart out, Enzo rushed from behind and impaled the viking in his heart with his own broken sword, causing him to stagger back as Damon managed to snap his wrist releasing his grip on his heart.

At that same moment, the witch's body was overloaded and consumed with all of the dark magic, as her eyes exploded and she fell to the ground. The allip vanished and Mikael clutched his head, falling as well, dropping Damon and laying on the ground unconscious with his own sword through him. The link had been broken and Thaddeus was finally gone. Damon struggled to recover from his many injuries, and Enzo kicked Mikael's head into the ground, breaking his neck so it would take him longer to wake back up. Finally able to leave the circle, Enzo rushed over to Maggie, gathering her limp body into his arms and realizing she was still hanging on to a shred of life.

"You can yell at me for this later love," he said, biting open his wrist and feeding her his blood with the hope it would heal her. Moments later, he was relieved as she finally opened her eyes and her breaths became normal once again. He sat on the ground holding her as she regained consciousness, and heard Damon approach.

"Thank you," Enzo said, looking up at Damon. There was no doubt that Maggie would be dead if he hadn't broken the crystal's connection to the allip, and Enzo knew that his friend didn't want her around but had saved her anyway.

Damon snorted, "Pshhh, I didn't do it for her, I wanted the witch dead. That bitch hexed me." Enzo shook his head and rolled his eyes, grinning and returning his attention to Maggie's recovery.

Damon walked over to where Eloise lay face down, a dark brown ooze surrounding her. "Ellloooooouuu?" He nudged the unmoving body of the collapsed witch with the tip of his boot, careful not to soil it with the macabre liquid. It smelled like a rotten mix of blood and death, and he scrunched his nose in disgust.

"No heartbeat, Damon," Enzo stated grimly while helping Maggie slowly to her feet, and his friend looked over with a frown.

"Death by dark witchpower overload better not count as suicide, because if she comes back as an allip, she damn well better not blame me..." Damon's reponse resulted in Enzo's face turning pale and eyes widening at the horrifying thought.

"Ahem," the boys looked over as Maggie cleared her throat and gestured over towards Mikael, who was still sprawled out on the ground. "What about him?"

Damon's eyebrows raised as he concluded, "Still scary even while unconscious? Yup. So, let's get the hell outta here before he wakes up and wants to make us his lunch."

Enzo snorted but reached out for Maggie's hand after she became steady, leading her away from the scene of battle. Damon following closely behind, eager to put as much distance as possible between himself and the volatile super vampire cannibal as possible. He never wanted to run into one of these so-called 'originals' ever again. Especially not that Klaus guy that Mikael had been supposedly hunting before their awful encounter with him.

Maggie stopped, reaching into her coat and pulling out the stake inside, handing it to Enzo. Damon's eyes widened in surprise that she'd had that with her all along, but hadn't staked either of them. Enzo tossed it to Damon, still holding Maggie up. "Why not just make sure he doesn't wake up?" he said, and Damon agreed.

Damon walked over to Mikael, removing the broken sword from his back and replacing it with the wooden stake, watching as the vampire cannibal viking turned gray. He dragged the corpse over to where the dead witch lay, and went to find some fluid to douse them with in order to burn the bodies. Enzo tossed some loose boards from the witches cottage on top of them and the three watched the fire burn, walking away from the foul odor shortly after it was lit. They climbed into the red Corvette and drove away from the morbid cottage, after Damon set it ablaze as well.

* * *

Hours later amidst the pile of charred wood and ash, rubble was tossed aside and a man stood up, covered head to toe in black soot. He reached into a cauterized hole in his chest, pulling out the burnt remains of wooden splinters left from the stake. With the death of the witch and the link with the allip dissolved, he was free to resume his hunt. His chest healed after he removed the burnt pieces, and he glared at the sight of his broken sword that had been at his side for centuries. Mikael would get his revenge, but first he needed to find some new clothes.


	11. 10 Lull

Lull:

February 14, 1959 - Mystic Falls

* * *

After buying Maggie a brand new television, Enzo more or less moved in to her home in Mystic Falls. This meant she had to deal with Damon's awkward presence as well, as he still watched her suspiciously, as if she would rush over and stake his buddy at any moment. The other vampire still frightened her despite the fact that they had ended up saving each other's lives only a few days ago. He seemed unpredictable and dangerous and she wasn't sure she would be safe around him if Lorenzo wasn't nearby.

Either way, it was becoming clear that Damon planned to continue stopping by whenever he wanted and he certainly got a kick out of being arrogant. Earlier that day they'd heard on the news about a horrific tornado in St. Louis that had killed dozens and injured hundreds, and Damon turned it into a tactless debate about how he could vamp speed fast enough to counter the tornado's force. At the moment, the two guys were now busy watching some western show called _'Gunsmoke'_ about a man stealing a horse when he got accused of murder. Damon wouldn't stop making fun of all the historical innaccuracies of modern westerns.

She was baking Lorenzo some pastries, thinking about how everything in her life had so suddenly turned upside down. The youth program in the hospital for young nurses had been canceled after the local founding families had decided that the roster was a looking a bit too 'integrated' and threatened to donate less funding to the hospital in general. Maggie was increasingly uncomfortable in town and at work, looking over her shoulder everywhere she went, worrying about supernatural beasts and vampires, and worst of all, the chance of encountering Bennett witches. Surprisingly, she found herself far more comfortable being home with Lorenzo, even if Damon was also there.

Damon had canceled his and Enzo's apartment lease immediately after the events with Mikael and Eloise. Too many things had happened near Whitmore and it was time to move on. He'd also dropped by the sorority house for one last night of fun before compelling all the girls to forget they'd ever known him or Enzo. He'd tried entering the Salvatore boarding house, but apparently after he'd killed Joseph the deed had passed on to the bastard's son, his invitation therefore revoked for the next generation. Now, he was trying to get Enzo to bail on the whole Maggie complication and leave town pronto during the current lull in supernatural activity, but his friend was completely on the hook so Damon had to settle with supervising. Tonight, that meant watching ' _Gunsmoke'_ and surviving the scent of Maggie baking pastries that he would have to stubbornly refuse.

Indeed, Enzo was smitten. He agreed with Damon that it was time to leave town, _hell, it was time to leave Virginia_ , but he wasn't leaving without Maggie. He also was starting to get sick of Damon going out of his way to make Maggie uncomfortable, and made it clear that Damon needed to go find himself other sleeping arrangements for the night. Damon had simply scoffed, claiming he had plans of his own anyway.

* * *

Mikael had spent the last few days getting himself cleaned up, finding new clothes and a station wagon, and searching the Whitmore campus for any leads on the vampire known as Damon. He had no idea who the other two involved in the ritual were or where they lived. Noone had returned to the campus apartment he'd previously smashed up, at least not after he'd finally gotten out of the woods by the dead witch's cottage and made his way there. He was finally feeling like himself again after getting free of the allip disaster, and he knew that he'd be better able to focus on hunting Klaus if he wrapped up his loose ends here quickly.

With the apartment abandoned, and no sign of the two vampires on campus anymore, he'd return to Mystic Falls and search for the red Corvette. There was also the possibility of forcing the Bennett witch to do a locater spell. Killing Damon and the other vampire that stabbed him in the back would be just what he needed to get back on track, as long as it didn't take too much time to find them.

* * *

Later that night, after Damon finally left to go get drunk on bourbon and blood, Enzo asked Maggie if she was happy in Mystic Falls as they cuddled intimately on the couch listening to "Smoke Gets in your Eyes" on the radio. Her answer to that question surprised even herself.

"I thought I was, before I met you."

His face looked devastated by her answer, and she quickly realized what she had said.

"No, that's not what I meant... I mean, before my memories came back. These last few days have really changed how I see everything. It's as if my life was never real ever since I moved here, and everything I'm aware of now makes me wish I was somewhere else. Somewhere far away from Mystic Falls and Whitmore and everything related to Augustine. Somewhere that I don't feel anxious every time I walk out the door. Somewhere that I can start over."

"Well then, I do believe it's time to leave town, gorgeous." Enzo said sadly, knowing that she had made this place her home until he'd ruined it, but hoping she would still want to be with him.

Maggie nodded wearily, not knowing what she should do. She had never really felt like this place was where she belonged, but leaving her hard earned career as a hospital nurse to flee with two vampires had never exactly been part of her plan either. Nevertheless, she didn't really have any destination in mind, so she decided that she would go wherever Lorenzo decided. She certainly hoped that he would be the one to come up with any plans rather than his friend Damon, who she did not really trust at all. If not for the fact that the two men were best friends, she would certainly have informed the council in town that Damon was a dangerous vampire.

She tightened her grip on Lorenzo's hand and he smiled happily at her, thinking it was her way of simply agreeing to leave everything behind to go with them. They talked for a while longer about the future before heading to bed together.

* * *

The following morning, Enzo walked outside with a mug of coffee, stretching and yawning until he noticed that Damon was sleeping on the front lawn. The drunken vampire was sprawled out on his stomach, an empty bottle of bourbon a few inches from his hand, dried blood all over his face.

"What? Damon, wake up you birdbrain!" Enzo grumbled in a low voice, not wanting to wake the neighbors or Maggie. "Do you want the townsfolk to chase us out of here with wooden pitchforks?"

The dark haired vampire moaned in vexation and rolled to his side, squinting up at Enzo with an obnoxious smirk. "'Mornin, _Lorenzo_."

Enzo didn't respond, instead taking the nearby garden hose off the hook and spraying Damon in the face with the nozzle on full jet.

"Woooaahheyy!" Damon jumped up in shock, covering his face and trying to wipe the water out of his eyes as Enzo dropped the hose and walked back inside. Damon finally noticed the watery red smears on his hands after he wiped off his face angrily and trudged inside, neglecting to even remove his dripping boots. The men glared at each other for a moment, but Damon finally just walked over to the kitchen sink to clean up his face and hands. "I'll give you that one Enzo, but only because I want some coffee right now. Don't do that again." Enzo just frowned and shook his head.

The truth was Damon had done some stupid things last night that he didn't want to talk about. After getting wasted, he'd driven over to the Bennett house and crashed the Corvette into their mailbox, unintentionally of course. He didn't even know why he went there in the first place, but after the crash he'd stumbled out of the car and left it there. Then he'd sped off to some back road in town, and compelled some late night straggler to hold still as he drank too much of the townie's blood. The guy was dead before Damon even realized it, so he'd had to get rid of the body, carelessly dropping it into the quarry since he didn't have a shovel. After that, he must have come back to Enzo's girlfriend's house and passed out.

Today, he'd have to get a new car and go retrieve the floater from the quarry before hikers spotted it. He planned on leaving town anyway, but didn't want to deal with Maggie finding out about it before he could get his friend away from her. The last thing he needed was to end up alone again, without even Enzo, or staked by that woman. Killing her wasn't really an option either unless he could pass it off as self defense. Filling a mug with coffee, he walked right past Enzo back out the door to go take care of everything, not even bothering to shut it behind him.

Enzo just stood there watching, wondering what was going on with his friend. He knew that Damon hadn't escaped Augustine mentally unscathed. In the months following that first night, Damon continually had horrific nightmares and woke up resembling a veteran struggling with 'neuroses' or 'gross stress reaction', whatever they were calling 'shell shock' these days. Damon had often been moody and dangerously unpredictable ever since they'd gotten free, and it had finally started to calm down until recently. Sometimes he'd be fine for days, then suddenly he'd start behaving like an unruly imbecile. It seemed that ever since they'd run out of Augustines to kill, and then Enzo had reunited with Maggie, he'd been returning to an increasingly unstable state. He sighed, and went over to clean up the mess before Maggie woke up.

* * *

Damon wandered around the car sale lot, still thinking about how much his only friend was becoming attached to Maggie. At the very least, it was not particularly convenient, especially because she was a human already around ten years older than what Enzo would remain permanently. She would get old and sick and die, and that was only if they managed to not get her killed first. She also was always tense around Damon, although he didn't really blame her, but that could increase the liability she presented, and that could be a big problem in the next life or death situation Damon and Enzo found themselves in.

Then there was the fact that she may respond poorly to any number of his future actions, and complicate his life in ways that would be tedious at best, or possibly devastating at worst. Damon obviously did not want himself or Enzo getting killed for this human woman, but at the moment there was no way he'd manage to seperate his best friend from her. Damon had no choice but to follow Enzo's lead for now, but if this problem became too risky instead of just being a nuisance, he'd do whatever was necessary to ensure his and Enzo's survival, even if that meant playing the bad guy. Even if that meant ending up all alone again.

Lastly, there was her past Augustine connection and the fact that she'd vervained him already. He was having a really tough time letting that go. He couldn't understand why it was so easy for Enzo to get over the fact that she had been involved with the group of humans that had tortured them for years. He still had nightmares about Doc Whitmore cutting him open and pulling out his insides, stabbing his eyes, and starving them while they rotted in their cells night and day. When they'd first killed off the majority of the Augustines, his nightmares had finally decreased and his emotional stress had settled down, but then he'd run out of distractions. Now, Maggie's presence had brought them back full force, and last night he'd even dreamt that she'd been standing in the background holding vervain watching while the mad doctor sliced him apart in the lab. Before she interrupted his life, Damon could tell Enzo anything he had on his mind without judgement, but now they were at odds more often than not. He couldn't even spend any time with Enzo anymore without Maggie present, and there was no way he'd want her to see him when... things got bad. Sometimes he'd still have humiliating and extreme panic attacks when waking up from his worst nightmares.

Damon was so lost in thought and feeling sorry for himself that he didn't even notice the overweight salesman wander over until the man spoke.

"She's a beauty, ain't she."

"Huh?" Damon realized he'd sat down in a rare BMW 507 Roadster that was on display. This would be a bit too risky to just take with complusion without drawing attention. Then again, he wasn't planning on sticking around here anyway. So, he went ahead and bought it, filling out the paperwork and using compulsion to make the salesman believe it had been bought by a Stefan Salvatore and co-signed by the late Joseph's son. He grinned thinking about how Stefan would react when getting the bills, just his little way to let his baby bro know that the elder Salvatore still existed, since he wouldn't be back in town for a while after today. No doubt Stefan would pay it just to maintain his fake human livelihood and avoid notice. Waving goodbye to the excited salesman as he left the lot in the shiny black sports car, Damon headed to the quarry to fish out his victim from last night and bury the body properly.

* * *

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading.

That is the wrap up chapter for the first adventure storyline, and I definitely plan on sending them somewhere new, but as of right now I'm not sure where. Until I figure out where the two go next and how I'm going to continue the story with a new adventure, I may go back and edit past chapter and put in some additional story between the time they escaped in the prologue and before they encountered Maggie and the witches.

Also, the reason I decided that Damon must be suffering PTSD is that he did not turn off his emotions when he managed to escape with Enzo, so everything that has happened to him is just too much for a guy like Damon to handle, especially on his own.


	12. 11 Later, Gator

Later, Gator:

That same day, early afternoon

* * *

Damon spotted the dead body in the water and grudgingly waded in to retrieve it. This was definitely not his favorite way to spend the day, and he hadn't been fond of swimming ever since becoming a vampire. Just as he finished dragging out the corpse he heard voices coming his way, so he dumped it into a nearby bush and redressed in his dry clothes at vamp speed. If he was already gonna have to dig a hole, he might as well have a fresh snack. He snuck along the cover of the woods until he could make out what they were saying. It sounded like a couple of kids.

 _"I'm telling you, Gordy, I saw a body floatin just over there."_

 _"I don't see anything. Teddy you're a real goof for makin me walk all the way out here for nothin."_

 _"I'm not making it up, it was there less than an hour ago!"_

 _"Yeah well I'm gonna split, Chris wants to go fishin..."_

Right then, a dead body fell out of the air above them, landing at Gordy's feet. The teenager screamed in a high pitched squeal as Damon leaped out of the tree above them and bit into Teddy's throat messily. He managed to stop himself before taking too much blood and let the stunned kid fall to the ground. Grinning with malice, he looked over at Gordy with his bloody fangs bared and his eyes fully vamped out.

"BOO!" Damon took a half a step towards the boy, who screamed again while falling backwards into poison ivy. The vampire laughed amused and walked over, holding out his hand as if he was going to help the youth up. Gordy looked at him in horror and confusion, blabbering and crying while crawling backwards further into the poison ivy.

"I'm really not quite sure what you're trying to say, pal," Damon mocked, watching and shaking his head, then scrunching his nose in disgust when he realized the boy had wet his denim overalls. "Ugh, okay, that's just gross."

He sighed and rolled his eyes while walking over and lazily lifted the kid up by his collar before looking into his eyes, "You never saw me here, all you remember is that you went for a swim and your buddy got attacked by an animal."

Becoming bored, he launched the kid about twenty feet through the air and into the water and snorted as he watched the startled teenager splash around in confusion. Chuckling, he went back over to Teddy, who was barely conscious but would survive despite the badly mangled wound on his neck. Unless someone who knew about vampires got a close look, it would definitely pass as an animal bite, so Damon lightly tapped the boys face until the kid was able to focus on his eyes. He compelled him to forget everything about finding the dead body and to believe he'd been attacked by a mountain lion. Then he made the kid press his hand to his wound to slow the bleeding, and stood back up.

Damon told himself that he really couldn't care less that they were kids, it was just never wise to kill them when avoidable because the death or disappearance of children always drew far too much attention. He didn't actually care, he was just being smart, he convinced himself while picking up the waterlogged dead body that was barely holding together after being dropped out of a tree. Time to go bury it somewhere less noticable. After that, he deserved a bottle of bourbon for good behavior.

* * *

Enzo entered the pub & grill in town after failing to located Damon in any other likely spots. Sure enough, his dark haired friend was sitting at the bar next to a flirty daydrinker. The woman looked to be in her early twenties, and the words coming from her mouth were rather bold and inelegant. He went over to the bar and sat on a stool next to Damon, requesting beer from the tap and a cheeseburger.

Damon looked over at him, buzzed and cheerful before saying, "You look like a guy I used to know."

"Right, cause it's been so long since this morning when you were passed out on my front lawn." Enzo said sarcastically.

"Oh, so now it's _your_ front lawn. You two lovebirds sure do move fast." Damon returned his attention to the uncouth female next to him, wiggling his eyebrows and playfully swapping their drinks before taking a sip of hers while she laughingly protested before drinking his bourbon in response.

Enzo sighed, annoyed with Damon's frustrating attitude. "Are you seriously jealous of me and Maggie?" he questioned.

Damon quickly turned back around, suddenly looking sobered and angry, " _Jealous_? No way! I just don't get how you can be so trusting of her, enough to put both our lives in her hands," he lowered his voice, not wanting to draw attention. "She _vervained_ me with some experimental thing that may have _killed_ me and you're fine with that! Not to mention that ever since she showed up you've become a real bore. Why don't you head home to your human and play some scrabble like the whipped domestic fool that she's turned you into?"

Before Enzo had the chance to repond, Damon stood up, putting his arms around the tipsy woman next to him, "Whatta ya say, little miss Maxwell, wanna go for a spin in a _really_ fast chariot?" He pointed through the window towards the black BMW 507 Roadster in the parking lot as the woman giggled flirtatiously and nodded, hanging on to him eagerly. The town lush couldn't believe her luck.

The smug look on his face suddenly vanished, replaced with a fearful and shocked expression. He let go of the woman, grabbing a fuming Enzo by the shoulders and nodding to the parking lot. Enzo had been about to go ape at Damon, but seeing the sudden change in the other vampire's demeaner caused him to look out to where Damon was redirecting his attention.

"Bloody hell, no way?" Enzo said, his mouth dropping open. The super-vampire viking that they had barbequed days ago was getting out of a station wagon and heading towards the pub.

"Sorry, Tori, that ride's gonna have to wait." Damon said to the baffled woman as he and Enzo ducked down and began to quickly make their way out of view from the entrance.

"How the hell is he alive? I staked that bastard and we burned him with the witch!" Damon hissed as they managed to find their way to the back exit, their argument temporarily forgotten.

"Did you miss?" Enzo shrugged in confusion before they both sped out and around the building into Damon's car, keeping their heads low before Damon quickly drove them away from the building. It didn't appear that they had been spotted, so their enemy must not have known they'd actually been in there yet. It turned out to be rather convenient that Damon had needed to trade up cars. Enzo figured that he could ask about that trivial mystery later.

"NO, I didn't miss!" Damon replied to Enzo's earlier question in annoyed exasperation that somehow Mikael was still alive and clearly trying to find them. He had no doubt in his mind that he knew how to properly stake a vampire, and it had definitely been made of wood since he'd had to pull a few painful splinters out of his hand afterwards.

"We can't stay here anymore, we have to leave now before he figure's out where we've been staying." Damon was heading straight out of Mystic Falls at a speed that was just shy of drawing too much attention from cops or townies.

"Drive to Maggie's, Damon," Enzo demanded.

"No! Too risky and not enough time," Damon _really_ did not want her tagging along, especially if they were going to have to deal with an extremely difficult to kill cannibal vampire chasing after them.

"It's not a request, Damon. I'm not leaving here without her."

"Enzo, don't be stupid. She'll just slow us down and make it easier to track us. You can't seriously think that a woman looking like Maggie, travelling with the two of us, isn't going to draw endless unwanted attention anywhere we go, aside from big cities."

Enzo was beyond sick of arguing with Damon, and jumped out of the car, vamp speeding towards Maggie's house. Damon looked at the suddenly empty passenger seat suprised, groaned irately before shouting vulgarities, and then turned down the next road heading towards Maggie's to go pick up his idiot best friend.

* * *

Enzo was loading up Maggie's rickety old coupe with her essentials at vamp speed when Damon got there. Maggie seemed somewhat shocked due to Enzo arriving only moments ago with the news that they were leaving this very moment due to Mikael being 'alive' and here in town. Within minutes, the poor woman was sitting stunned in the passenger seat being driven out of Mystic Falls away from her life by Enzo, with Damon driving his BMW up ahead.

They were heading north along the east coast. There wasn't time to discuss a destination with any deliberation, and they just needed to get somewhere they could disappear quickly, the more densely populated the better. Damon was leading them to New York city. They could reach it within a days time, and it would be easier for Enzo and Maggie to fit in where there was a lot of diversity. The fact was, 1959 was a tense year for interracial couples pretty much anywhere in the United States, and the big apple was probably one of the best places they could go. With civil rights movements and desegregation stirring up all sorts of strife across the nation, small towns and rural areas would be a problem pretty much anywhere, both in the north or south.

Another thing that made New York a great option was the fact he'd have easy access to one of his own plentiful bank accounts. Despite the fact that he'd built up far more of the Salvatore fortune over the years than Stefan ever had, the main family account was currently under Stefan and his half-brother's decendant's control, and making withdrawals had become a nuisance. Wisely, Damon had set aside fortunes in many seperate locations throughout the world over the decades. That had been particularly useful during the Great Depression a few decades ago. His New York based account would be a huge help.

Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" came on the radio and Damon turned up the volume as he floored it to go scout out the roads ahead. Enzo and Maggie putted along behind in her struggling old 40's automobile, watching Damon's black sports car disappear into the distance.

"Show off," Enzo grumbled. Then, he looked over at Maggie who reach over and held his hand softly. They smiled at each other and Enzo tuned the radio in to "Rave On" by Buddy Holly as he realized he'd never been this happy before in his life.

* * *

Author's Note:

Damon's totally jealous of the time Enzo spends with Maggie, and he's still tragically hung up on the idea of somehow getting Katherine back so he's unable to let himself care about anyone else (except Enzo). Damon and Enzo may not agree on much, but they will be unable to ever stop being loyal to each other. I've decided to basically make them platonic soulmates who have essentially adopted each other as brothers due to both their histories of family abandonment and loneliness. They have become a bit overly dependant on each other and really can't spend more than a day apart ever since bonding at Augustine.

So anyway, I had to throw in a scene with Damon hitting on yet another of Matt Donovan's relatives, 'Tori Maxwell' was meant to be the future mother of Peter Maxwell and paternal grandmother of Matt and Vicki. I don't hate Matt, but there were sooo many times that he was my least favorite character. It was just a pointless one-shot 'cameo'.

I'm not sure when I'll have the next update ready, because I'm still trying to put together a new adventure story for them.


End file.
